Thursday Triumph / Sunday Suckage

First, a public apology: CT RBF, I am sooo sorry that I didn’t make it up to Hartford to lend moral support Saturday Morning. But I think y’all understand. In any case, huge congratulations to Susan, Dianna, April Anne, Sarah, Michelle, and anyone I’m forgetting. What a crappy day. What a huge inspiration.

After the 19 miles of triumph last weekend, life caught up with me, and I didn’t get around to running until Thursday afternoon. Melissa called at the office, said “Hey, you’re staying home on Columbus day, right?” Yep (one of the perks of having clients in government is their schedule). “Well, the office wants me to make a teleconference in Hartford. Why don’t you work late tonight, or go for a run or something? I’ll get TV dinners for the boys”. I hung up before she could change your mind.

Parked at the soccer field on Jamestown, and remixed my loop of the north end of the island. Cut through the reservoir to North Main Street, headed up the hill, out to the north end of the island. Decided to loop back over the hill to north main – whatever. Good run. 8 miles, 65 minutes. Didn’t feel terribly winded afterwards, either. Was feeling really happy in advance of Saturday’s long run.

Went to bed early (10 or so) Friday night. Alarm goes off at 4AM, and I hear rain pouring like a showerhead outside of the bedroom window. Hmm. Snooze until 5. Heavy rain again. 6 – heavy rain. 7:30, the boy bumps into the bed, and it’s official – I’m blowing off the 20 until Sunday. Play with the boys, get new tires, clean the basement since it’s almost winter, and I’m going to be cooped up down there for the next six months or so. Check the belt on the rollers – good to go. Check the treadmill – may have to call for a new belt.

Sunday morning – 5AM – raining. 6 AM raining, but the opportunity to run without impacting the day’s schedule is about to go over the hill if I don’t hit the road. So I strap on the shoes, pull on a long sleeved shirt! for the first time of the fall, and hit the wet roads.

The run’s crummy, I didn’t hyperhydrate the night before. Bleh. I made it to downtown Mystic, took a big drink from the water fountain near the river, and headed back. 10 miles, a long time, and I head back wet and grumpy. Liz kicked my butt as far as coming close to goals goes. Here’s praying for sunshine for Mystic Places. Someone remind me to buy about 8 pounds of Swedish Fish.

I’d feel worse about the run, but it’s the two week taper, baby. My two little disease vectors had brought back a cough/cold, and I think I caught a little bit of it. I was exhausted Saturday and Sunday despite getting near 8 hours each night, so likely I was fighting something off. Running in the rain probably didn’t help much. Made Family Swim at the Y after naps Sunday afternoon. Packed, but we got to splash. Jake swims decently well for a 5 year old – no actual strokes, but he keeps his head above water and tries to swim underwater (kind of funny, since you see a butt sticking out of the water while he kicks). Library, too. ‘Cept 10 minutes before it closed. We sprinted to the children’s section, grabbed two books that may have been dinosaur books, and one book on birds.

Today is official rest day. Having been completely slack about sticking to the schedule for the last month, I am going to religiously follow the two taper weeks. Early to bed and all that stuff. Missy, as mentioned, is off at work today. Boys and I are sitting in a kitchen which is rapidly approaching disaster area status, despite my at least thinking about keeping it clean. Guess there’s actual work involved. Jake’s playing; running commentary about fire trucks. Guess something happened that’s good for the world, ’cause he just mentioned there’s “New Bad Guys and New Bad Girls” showing up. Guess that’s progress – I remember only talking about “bad guys” when I was playing.

OK, that was an official ramble. Off to the aquarium for pumpkin painting. Congratulations to all of the CT RBF again.